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Legislature set to discuss details of farmer pensions

The pan-blue-dominated Procedure Committee yesterday decided to include in Friday's plenary agenda an amendment proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to the National Pension Law (國民年金法) that would allow farmers to choose whether to join the national pension system.

The amendment, proposed and endorsed by 40 pan-blue legislators, said that the law, which will take effect on Oct. 1, would require all farmers, many of whom participate in farmers' insurance plans, to join the national pension system.

However, farmers who only have to pay a monthly premium of NT$78 in the farmers' insurance system would be obliged to pay NT$674 every month after joining the national pension system, the proposal said.

KMT Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡), one of the lawmakers who initiated the proposal, said the Cabinet failed to understand that farmers may not be able to afford the increased premiums.

Farmers would also be unable to enjoy the same amount of funeral subsidy -- about NT$153,000 -- they received from the farmers' insurance system if they chose the national system, the proposal said.

The legislature will decide whether to put the proposal to committee review during Friday's plenary session.

The Procedure Committee also blocked several bills proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party caucus, including a draft bill that would require the KMT to return its stolen assets and the Cabinet's request to abolish the Organic Law of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Management Office (中正紀念堂管理處組織條例).

Meanwhile, the legislature decided yesterday that it would discuss a proposed amendment to the Value-Added and Non Value-Added Business Tax Act (加值型及非加值型營業稅法) that would allow authorities to lower business taxes on corn, wheat, barley and soy beans during Friday's plenary session.

The Cabinet passed and sent the proposal to the legislature in December in support of the government's efforts to stabilize commodity prices.

The amendment was written in response to figures showing the country imports nearly 100 percent of its supplies of the four staples, whose prices are closely linked to that of crude oil.
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